Cosmic Ruler - Chapter 478

Chapter 478: War LI
The guardian hesitated for the first time.

Aiden didn’t waste the opening.

His Golden Sword erupted with divine brilliance as he fused it with his Reaper Scythe, creating a paradoxical weapon that carried the weight of both life and death.

And then, he moved.

In an instant, he was upon the guardian, his blade slicing through space itself.

SLASH!

The first strike severed an arm.

The second strike cleaved through the guardian’s chest, sending cracks spiderwebbing across its crystalline core.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The guardian roared, its body rapidly reconstructing as its energy surged to counteract the damage.

But Aiden was faster.

He activated Space Rend one final time—except this time, he wasn’t just cutting through the battlefield.

He was cutting through the guardian’s very existence.

The guardian froze. The energy within it collapsed inward.

And then—

BOOM!

The guardian shattered, its core imploding into nothingness.

The battlefield fell silent.

And then, the First Witness’s voice echoed once more, this time with undeniable reverence.

“You… are worthy.”

A new path opened before Aiden, bathed in ethereal light.

He had passed the Trial.

Aiden took a deep breath as the battlefield returned to silence. The shattered remnants of the guardian dissolved into streams of golden light, merging with the ethereal path that had opened before him.

“That was… insane,” Dren muttered, still catching his breath. His usually confident demeanor was shaken. “If you had taken even a second longer—”

“I didn’t,” Aiden cut him off, sheathing his weapon. His gaze was fixed ahead, on the illuminated path leading into the unknown. “Let’s move.”

Myne glanced at him with concern. She could sense it—Aiden was exhausted. His repeated use of Pathfinder and Space Rend had pushed his body and soul to the brink, but he refused to show any weakness.

The First Witness’s voice echoed once more.

“You have overcome the Final Guardian. Proceed, and claim your inheritance.”

The light pulsed, beckoning them forward.

Aiden took the first step.

As he walked onto the radiant pathway, a flood of memories that were not his own rushed into his mind.

Visions.

He saw a vast celestial battlefield, where gods and devils clashed, wielding powers that could rewrite reality itself. Towering figures, cloaked in divine authority, raged against beings whose mere presence erased existence.

And at the center of it all—

A lone warrior.

A figure stood at the peak of the battlefield, bathed in golden light. Unlike the gods, he had no divine aura. Unlike the devils, he did not radiate destruction.

Yet both feared him.

The warrior raised his blade, and with a single swing—

The war ended.

Aiden’s breath caught in his throat.

The vision blurred, shifting.

Now, he saw the warrior standing alone at the edge of a dying world. His golden blade was buried in the ground, his armor cracked. Countless fallen gods and devils lay before him, but he did not smile.

Instead, he turned his gaze toward the sky and whispered something.

Something Aiden couldn’t hear.

And then—

The world collapsed.

The visions stopped.

Aiden staggered, feeling his mind snap back to reality.

Myne grabbed his arm, steadying him. “Aiden! What did you see?”

He took a shaky breath. “The truth.”

Before them, the pathway ended at a towering golden door. Ancient runes glowed across its surface, radiating an indescribable power.

This was it.

The inheritance of the Nameless Warrior.

Aiden stepped forward, placing his palm against the golden door. The moment his skin made contact, the runes pulsed, and a deep hum resonated through the air.

The door did not open immediately.

Instead, a golden light surged outward, engulfing him completely. The sensation was neither painful nor warm—it was absolute, as if reality itself was shifting around him.

And then—

He was somewhere else.

A vast, starry expanse stretched infinitely in all directions, like a void of shimmering constellations. Beneath his feet, there was no ground—only endless stardust swirling in slow, cosmic patterns.

“This place…” Myne’s voice trailed off as she looked around, her usual composure shaken.

Dren cursed under his breath. “This isn’t normal. This isn’t just some inheritance chamber.”

Aiden remained silent. He could feel it—something was watching them.

Then, the space before them fractured.

A golden throne manifested in the void, its structure ancient yet untouched by time. It was massive, carved from an unknown material that pulsed with both divine and abyssal energy.

And upon it—

Sat a figure.

His features were sharp, regal, and unreadable. His hair, long and golden, seemed to flow like liquid sunlight. His armor was cracked in places, but it still radiated an overwhelming presence.

Aiden instantly recognized him.

The Nameless Warrior.

The same figure from the visions. The one who had ended the celestial war. The one who had stood alone at the end of everything.

But this was no mere vision.

This was real.

The warrior opened his eyes.

Aiden’s breath hitched.

They were golden, yet empty. A gaze that had witnessed too much, lost too much.

And then—

He spoke.

“You have come far.” His voice was calm yet heavy, as if it carried the weight of a thousand eternities. “But the question remains… do you deserve to go further?”

The air trembled.

Aiden clenched his fists, his body tensing as a pressure unlike anything before descended upon him. It wasn’t just strength.

It was the weight of history itself.

The Nameless Warrior slowly rose from his throne. The void around them shattered, replaced by a battlefield of endless ruins.

He reached for his weapon.

A sword of pure concept formed in his grasp, neither divine nor demonic—something beyond both.

“Prove yourself.”

And then, he vanished.

Aiden barely had time to react before the world erupted in golden light.

Aiden had no time to think—only react.

The Nameless Warrior appeared before him in an instant, his golden blade descending with an almost casual motion. But Aiden’s instincts screamed at him—this was no ordinary slash.

He twisted his body, activating Space Rend on pure reflex. His form blurred, shifting through the fabric of space—

Yet, the blade still found him.